Moonlight will hinder observing Lyrids meteor shower

On the night of 21, dawn on April 22 is the maximum time of the Lyrids meteor shower, but Vietnamese astronomers will be hard to observe this phenomenon.

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Thus, this year is the second year in a row observing the Lyrids meteor shower being hindered. Last year, this meteor shower was blocked by haze.

Talking to reporters, Mr. Dang Vu Tuan Son, Chairman of the Vietnam Young Astronomical Club said that Lyrids meteor shower is centered on the constellation Lyra (the Lia instrument, often called Thien Cam) and has observed more than 2000 years ago.

Historically, the meteor shower once reached 180-300 meteor streaks in just a few minutes in 1982. But so far, the Lyrids meteor shower has weakened and has a density of 10-20 meteor at culmination.

Mr. Son said, the best time to observe this year's Lyrids meteor shower in Vietnam is about 2 am on April 22. However, if the lunar calendar is calculated on the 12th and then the moon is nearly round and very bright, covering quite a lot of meteorites. Therefore, astronomers can hardly observe this phenomenon, especially for people in big cities.